Gaspard’s food was the best she’d ever had. It wasn’t a hard bar to reach seeing as all she’d ever eaten before was other people’s scraps or whatever she found on the floor, but the tender meat mixed with the spices he sprinkled on had to be good food in everyone’s eyes, right?

She jabbed her fork into the meat and brought it to her mouth. Biting down on it, the juiciness spread across her tongue, the complex flavor covering every crevice of her pallet. A tinge of spiciness hit the back of her throat as she swallowed.

“Tasty.”

“Is it?” Gaspard laughed. “Good to see my skills haven’t deteriorated.” He proudly shoved a large piece of meat into his mouth.

To Ze’Seki’s left, Eleanor was harshly inspecting the piece of meat on her fork. Turning it from different angles before eventually sighing and scarfing it down. “I still don’t get how you make it like this. Every time I try it ends up all…weird.”

“It’s not weird. I’d say it’s pretty good. You haven’t been practicing as long as I have, that’s all,” Gaspard reassured her. “Although, I can confidently say that if it wasn’t for Lia’s phenomenal hunting skills, the meat wouldn’t be anywhere near as good as it is. She just has an eye for the juicy boars.”

Za’Lia smiled at the shower of praise.

From the moment they’d decided to stay with Gaspard, both of them felt like they wanted to do something to help out instead of just freeloading. Even after Gaspard reassured the girls it was fine and that he could handle everything, they ignored him and each chose something they could do.

While Eleanor chose to do more of the housekeeping, mostly because she didn’t trust Gaspard with their stuff, Za’Lia chose to be the hunter. Every so often she’d go out and hunt any nearby animals, usually boars, but could also be rabbits, or deer.

“You make that sound weird,” Eleanor scoffed.

“But it’s true, isn’t it? The quality of the meat is really good. At this point, we could probably make an entire business out of selling meat to the town’s people.”

“I think we sell enough to them already.”

“It doesn’t hurt to get more money, does it?”

After some hesitation, Eleanor sighed, “Yeah, maybe. I don’t think the merchant will be too happy about that though.”

Their financial situation wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the greatest either. Food was practically the only resource they had an abundance of, or at least they could if they really tried. The people usually tried handing them free stuff, but Gaspard didn’t want to just go and take the town’s resources, so he usually declined.

“Eh, that merchant's an asshole anyway.”

“Hey, no swearing in front of Lia!”

“Really? Come on, she hears it all the time,” he scratched his head. “Anyway, what about it, Lia? Want to go hunting a bit longer tomorrow so we can sell some?”

Za’Lia nodded excitedly.

“Nice. Alright, it's been decided then!” he pumped his fist and Za’Lia did the same.

“What am I going to do with you two,” Eleanor murmured as she stuffed more meat into her mouth.

The dinner was as good as it’d always been. Their regular schedule went along for the rest of the day until it was time to sleep.

Eleanor closed the window behind the head of the big bed and locked it. “Huh, this lock is a little loose…I’ll tell Gaspard in the morning.” She turned to Za’Lia with a smile. “You ready?”

After undoing the bandages around her eyes, she placed them on the nightstand next to the bed and laid down. Eleanor hopped on the other side of the bed, covering both of them tightly.

Za’Lia much preferred to sleep alone, but Eleanor had insisted that this worked out for the best. This way, they didn’t force Gaspard to spend more money or resources on another bed, so she had said. But Za’Lia wasn’t dumb enough to eat up that story. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that the only reason she was doing that was to have an excuse to sleep in the same bed.

Eleanor was being overprotective as she’d been since they met.

If she had to be honest, she didn’t mind Eleanor sleeping next to her that much anymore. Having someone there for her wasn’t something she could ever take for granted. It was a luxury for most of Za’Lia’s life to have anyone even care for her.

“Goodnight, Lia,” Eleanor whispered.

“Goodnight.”

And so, with those thoughts in mind, she began to drift away into unconsciousness.

Even in sleep, a certain prickling in the back of her mind that she’d been feeling ever since they came back from town continued to assault her. Her mind was kept fixated on that feeling from back in town. The glare that Town Master shot her. A glare she couldn’t see—but could feel.

An old familiar feeling.

One she despised.

Since birth, Ze’Seki had been shunned by both outsiders and her own people alike. It was something hard to run away from. Anywhere she went, someone would look down at her. Apart from her race, her name in itself was a testament to that—Za’Lia.

The name meant little to anyone who wasn’t part of Terranyx culture, but for her, and her people, it was a name that meant she’d be looked down upon. The reason for that? Nothing more than unluckily being born in the “wrong” place to the “wrong” family.

Terranyx culture had a naming convention that was simple, but destructive in nature. Those born in the upper echelon had their names beginning the “Az’”. Names like Az’Ro, Az’Uri, and Az’Aron were all names she recognized from her childhood that met that mark. At the very bottom of that totem pole was the reverse. Names beginning with “Za”. Names like Za’Rina, Za’Dona—Za’Lia.

Of course, names varied between those two extremes, but Za’Lia was a clear example of the latter.

The kids in her hometown bullied her. The adults scoffed at her. She was nothing more than some pest to even those not that far from her own societal ranking.

Her entire life she was made to feel like she didn’t belong, and at some point, she thought maybe there was some truth behind it.

A scream snapped Za’Lia out of her sleep.

Under any normal circumstances, hearing a scream in the middle of the night would be troubling. Especially with everything that went down the day before. However, that scream was one Za’Lia recognized and was used to by now. Eleanor was as well seeing as she didn’t even wake up from it anymore.

She sat up and tossed herself out of bed. Her bare feet felt the sharp cold of the wooden floor. The creaking as she walked was quiet enough to not wake Eleanor, and Za’Lia made sure to open the door to the bedroom slowly as she exited.

Now outside, she looked over the railing across from her room. Here she could oversee the living room and the front door at the far back. After making sure there weren’t any obstacles on the ground below her, Za’Lia grabbed the railing with both hands and jumped. She fell a few meters before masterfully landing with minimal sound.

She let out the breath she’d been holding in.

Behind her was a door. It was the entrance to Gaspard’s room. As a general rule, the girls weren’t allowed in his room without knocking, and neither was he allowed in theirs without doing the same.

Ignoring that rule, Za’Lia creaked the door open. Inside, like the rest of the house, was dark, pitch dark. But a single thing could be seen frantically moving at the far end.

Za’Lia tiptoed into the room after quietly closing the door. She sneaked around the bed and peeked her head over the mattress.

Laying there was Gaspard, as one would expect. But although his eyes were clearly closed, his face was scrunched up and he was shaking his head from side to side. His breathing was fast and ragged. He repeatedly murmured the words, “no” and “I don’t want to” almost incoherently.

Seeing this, Za’Lia craned her head sideways. She’d seen this happen before, but she never understood why it happened. He seemed distressed about something, but whatever it was, Gaspard never revealed it to them.

Eleanor and Za’Lia hadn’t revealed much to him about themselves either, so she didn’t blame him, but it was obviously hurting him.

With a nod, Za’Lia hopped in the bed. She crawled next to him, avoiding his sudden movements before plopping down and hugging him. Almost as if by magic, Gaspard froze, and his mumbling stopped. Za’Lia put her forehead against his arm and simply laid there, warmly embracing him. She slowly felt the tension in his muscles fade away.

Gaspard let out a low shaky breath before his shoulders relaxed and his breathing became steady.

She had hugged him once like this before simply out of concern. Seeing Gaspard, one of the few people who not only didn’t see her as below them but even cared for her, in such distress had driven her to desperately do something, anything. And the only thing that came to mind was hugging him.

Somehow, that’d worked.

Now, anytime she hears Gaspard having nightmares, or at least that’s what she suspected it was, she would go down there and hug him for a while. It worked every time.

She didn’t know why Gaspard didn’t treat her like everyone else did, but the reason why didn’t matter to her as much as the fact he cared. That’s all she wanted. That’s exactly what he gave her.

This was enough, she thought.

This was her family. Gaspard and Eleanor. The world didn’t have to care about her as long as they did…or so she told herself.

Rubbing her forehead into his shoulder, she whispered, “Thank you.” After that, she carefully got out of his bed and headed back to her room.